Jazzjet

My favourite track from Salt and Pepper is a groovy little number called Lord Of The Flies. I'm not sure whether it was a treatment of a theme used in the film of the same name or just 'inspired by' the film.

A touch too complex for me. While I'm interested in experimentation, this seems a bit too obsessive!

I've recently been feeling strangely disengaged when sitting down in front of the main hifi for a listening session. Even the music I knew well and loved wasn't grabbing me the way it used to. I noticed that my speakers were pointing at - roughly - 6 inches or so to either side of my head. I've got the recommended equilateral triangle between the speakers and the listening position about right but I then decided to seek advice online about the best angle for the speakers. The general consensus seemed to be that the optimum position was achieved by 'toeing in' the speakers so that an imaginary line drawn from them crossed over just in front of the listening position. The difference was amazing! The stereo image was clearer and the music felt more alive somehow. Difficult to believe that a small change like that made so much difference to the listening experience.

Just came across a music blog called My Jazz World which is a rich source of rare albums ripped to mp3s. The blogger - Smooth - has a huge collection of albums for download, mostly on the fusion, jazz funk end of the spectrum. From Cannonball Adderly to United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, from Cal Tjader to Seawind, from Sonny Stitt to Gary Burton - and these are not the well known albums in the artists catalogue. No doubt dubious from a legal standpoint but a veritable goldmine. My Jazz World

Not sure that I've seen it around but I've got the vinyl LP issued on Affinity, a division of Charly Records in the UK. My copy was issued in 1986. It was issued under the name of Billy Strayhorn's Septet ( Strayhorn, Qunetin Jackson, 'Cue Porter', Shorty Baker, Russell Procope, Al Hall, Oliver Jackson ). Recorded 14 April, 1959. A fine record if I remember correctly, although I haven't played it in a while. Not sure whether it has ever been issued on CD.

This is the extract from the album page on Amazon. Rather a broad definition of 'hits'! Album Description * The Golden Age Of American Popular Music is fast-becoming as successful series as the Golden Age of American Rock'n'Roll. This spin-off from the main series is a collection of Jazz Hits from the core years of 1958-1966. * Amazingly, no one has gathered together these hits on one CD before. Ace are the first to approach it unashamedly from a pop angle eschewing the consciously hip considerations that normally weigh down most jazz compilations. * The brief has been slightly widened to include some hits from Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart that was published as an adjunct to the Hot 100 in these years. However the genre was popular enough for us to include 15 Top 30 hits. * Although some of the titles will be familiar to pop fans such as Dave Brubeck's `Take Five' or `The Girl From Ipanema' by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, as ever these are leavened by the much less familiar and sometimes quite rare. Ace have also insisted on the single versions of the tracks, which haven't been available elsewhere, such as Watermelon Man and The Sidewinder. * The usual superb quality sound and lavishly illustrated booklet rounds off this release.

There's a new album out on Ace Records ( UK ) titled 'The Jazz Hits'. This is basically a selection of jazz tracks that made the charts in the US between 1958 and 1966. Here is the track listing : 1. Watermelon Man - Hancock, Herbie 2. Yeh Yeh - Santamaria, Mongo (1) 3. Comin' Home Baby - Torme, Mel 4. Desafinado - Getz, Stan & Charlie Byrd 5. Soul Sauce - Tjader, Cal 6. Like Young - Previn, Andre & David Rose 7. Walk On The Wild Side - Smith, Jimmy & The Big Band 8. Take Five - Brubeck, Dave Quartet 9. Sidewinder - Morgan, Lee 10. Swingin' Shepherd Blues - Koffman, Moe Quartette 11. In Crowd - Lewis, Ramsey Trio 12. Cast Your Fate To The Wind - Guaraldi, Vince Trio 13. African Waltz - Dankworth, John 14. Girl From Ipanema - Getz, Stan & Astrud Gilberto 15. Misty - Holmes, Richard 'Groove' 16. Shake A Lady - Bryant, Ray 17. Exodus - Harris, Eddie 18. Wack Wack - Young Holt Trio 19. Shampoo - McCann, Les 20. Greasy Spoon - Marr, Hank 21. Loop - Lytle, Johnny 22. I've Got A Woman - McGriff, Jimmy 23. Mercy Mercy Mercy - Adderley, Cannonball 24. Taste Of Honey - Feldman, Victor Quartet 25. Dawn - Rockingham, David Trio 26. El Watusi - Barretto, Ray Y Su Charanga Moderna 27. Topsy II - Cole, Cozy 28. Route 66 Theme - Riddle, Nelson I'm familiar with most of these tracks but have never heard of 'Shake A Lady' ( Ray Bryant ), 'Shampoo' ( Les McCann ), 'Like Young' ( Andre Previn, David Rose ), 'Dawn' ( David Rockingham Trio ), 'Greasy Spoon' ( Hank Marr ), 'Topsy II' ( Cozy Cole ). Were these indeed hits of any note and why are they lesser known these days?

'Private Eye' is still going strong, if not quite the cult it was in the 60s. It really came to the fore at the time of the Profumo/Keeler scandals ( 1963 ) and the rise of The Establishment Club ( part owned by Peter Cook ) and the satire boom. It used to be a 'must read' for the under 30s at the time and exposed a number of juicy scandals. If I remember rightly it did sometimes have a cover-mounted flexi-disc which could well have had the 'glum' song on it. I still have one of those Private Eye records - "Dear Sir, Is this a record?" But, sad to say, it doesn't contain the Glum song. It does contain Dudley Moore saying, in a voice simultaneously lugubrious and lascivious (nice work if you can get it) "I love that swelling organ sound". But mentioning it with a capital G, "Round the Horne" (I think it was, but perhaps it was earlier) had Ron and Eth - The Glums. The song may have come from there. MG The Glums were from an earlier show called 'Take It From Here'. I strongly doubt that they would have got away with the 'stick your finger up your bum' song in the Reithian BBC of the day, when there were rule books on what subjects were allowed in jokes ( no mention of rabbit's procreation habits for example ). Difficult to imagine nowadays. Mind you, the music hall comedian Max Miller got banned for 8 years by the BBC for using the following joke in a variety show broadcast: " I was walking on a narrow cliff path when I saw this gorgeous blonde walking towards me. There wasn't room for us to pass each other. I didn't know whether to block her passage or toss myself off!" Boom-boom!

'Private Eye' is still going strong, if not quite the cult it was in the 60s. It really came to the fore at the time of the Profumo/Keeler scandals ( 1963 ) and the rise of The Establishment Club ( part owned by Peter Cook ) and the satire boom. It used to be a 'must read' for the under 30s at the time and exposed a number of juicy scandals. If I remember rightly it did sometimes have a cover-mounted flexi-disc which could well have had the 'glum' song on it.

Me too - from a second hand stall on London's Petticoat Lane market - followed by Midnight Blue. ( I guess it's pretty sad that I can actually remember where I bought albums! )

As a result of asking the question about Blue Notes to get to improve my collection I've just got Cool Struttin' by Sonny Clark. I'm playing it now and it is truly excellent. Great tunes and great playing - almost the perfect Blue Note session. No idea how this one slipped through the net but I'm sure glad I've caught up with it now!

'Nobody Loves a Fairy' was probably by Billie Cotton ( strangely popular via the BBC ) and Tessie O'Shea. Originally an old music hall song. As for ' When you're feeling glum, stick a finger up your bum...', I'm not sure but sounds pretty similar to Always Look On The Bright Side of Life by Monty Python but that was from the 70s. Could have been Peter Cook and Dudley Moore? Sounds like you went to some interesting pubs!

Ah, I'd forgotten about "Fool Britannia". If I recall, that was advertised heavily in Private Eye and the cover looked like a Private Eye job. Was it a Private Eye production, I wonder? But I was thinking of Sellers' two Parlophone LPs - a 10" and a 12" The 10" included the classic "Balham, gateway to the South" and the 12" had the interview with "Twit Conway". And wasn't "The blood donor" a programme in Hancock's TV series? Which would make it late sixties, by which time quite a lot had changed on the British humour scene. MG Just checked my much - played Hancock LPs and The Blood Donor/Radio Ham soundtracks were released in 1961, not long after the TV programmes were broadcast. Probably reissued many times thereafter. And, of course, he did basically the same shows on radio before that. I've got a box set of Peter Sellers ( A Celebration Of Sellers ) which contains all his albums ( The Best Of Sellers, Songs For Swingin' Sellers, Peter and Sophia, Sellers Market plus numerous singles including the aforementioned Hard Days Night and She Loves You - Inspired By Phil McCafferty,The Irish Dentist ). Comedy gold and probably the high point of British comedy, along with The Goons and Python. Ah yes - I'd forgotten what those LP titles were. Funny, I can't find the sleeve of "Songs for swinging sellers" on the web. As I recall, it had a pic of Sellers being hung. MG Try this link ( can't work out how to post images in forum messages yet, eg album covers. Any help? ) : Songs For Swingin' Sellers

Ah, I'd forgotten about "Fool Britannia". If I recall, that was advertised heavily in Private Eye and the cover looked like a Private Eye job. Was it a Private Eye production, I wonder? But I was thinking of Sellers' two Parlophone LPs - a 10" and a 12" The 10" included the classic "Balham, gateway to the South" and the 12" had the interview with "Twit Conway". And wasn't "The blood donor" a programme in Hancock's TV series? Which would make it late sixties, by which time quite a lot had changed on the British humour scene. MG Just checked my much - played Hancock LPs and The Blood Donor/Radio Ham soundtracks were released in 1961, not long after the TV programmes were broadcast. Probably reissued many times thereafter. And, of course, he did basically the same shows on radio before that. I've got a box set of Peter Sellers ( A Celebration Of Sellers ) which contains all his albums ( The Best Of Sellers, Songs For Swingin' Sellers, Peter and Sophia, Sellers Market plus numerous singles including the aforementioned Hard Days Night and She Loves You - Inspired By Phil McCafferty,The Irish Dentist ). Comedy gold and probably the high point of British comedy, along with The Goons and Python.

In the process of digitising my precious vinyl. Just got to 'Hill Country Suite' by Bobby Jones on the Enja label. An overlooked album ( and artist for that matter ) in my view with great support from George Mraz ( bass ) and Freddie Waits (drums ).

I always enjoyed Shelly Berman. I've got one of his LPs - 'Inside Shelly Berman' - and it is excellent, in the tradition of Mort Sahl. Includes some great telephone routines which were a staple of his act.

I picked this up as a result of the enthusiasm expressed in this thread and I'm glad I did. A good, solid session with a little more invention than a usual organ- led one. Was impressed with Grant Reed in particular. Anyone know his background and/or other work?

I agree completely with your point that the music that means most to you is the music that you grew up with, had your formative experiences with. That doesn't stop music obsessives - and I guess that covers most people on this forum - maintaining an interest in where the music is going, how its developing. Of course this can come across as ' music was better in our day' and that's unfortunate. But I guess we all want music to be exciting, vibrant, meaningful and we get depressed if we don't see it that way anymore. Doesn't mean we're right but at least we care. Also, there is an interesting point about how music 'blobs back on itself'. Of course this is natural but the key is how quickly this evolves and why. The breakdown of most types of music into endless sub-genres etc. Is this simply because communication is quicker, multi - faceted etc? Do people get bored more quickly? Or some other reason?

I think your impression is correct. Rock has become more self-referential over the last 20 years or so. Probably the same is true of jazz over the same period. Not sure what this says about the life-cycles of musical forms, given that jazz has evolved over a much longer period than rock.Maybe things are just quickening up due to the variety of media and cultural channels now existing. Still, individuals still flourish in this framework, eg Bjork, Sigur Ros etc.

Here's the Parlan Mosaic webpage...highly recommended! http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=197-A-MD-CD Thanks - looks tempting.

Indeed. What's with all this Jet stuff anyway. In my case, Jet is one of my dogs ( Jazz is the other one ).

I agree with you about the use of James Brown, Parliament drum samples being far more common than John Bonham. However, surely the Funky Drummer break was the most commonly sampled. Certainly in the early days of hip hop you could hardly move without hearing it. Wasn't the Amen Break more often used in Drum & Bass?

Fair point, although I wasn't suggesting listening habits should be determined by a musician's importance in popular culture. It is only one measure of the relative significance of the music compared to the vaunted 90s bands like Pearl Jam etc. I would definitely argue that bands such as the Who, Led Zep, Stones etc had a much wider influence and impact - and a more lasting one - than the Smiths, for example, ever had ( outside Manchester ). How many bands formed as a result of these 60s and 70s bands compared to those 'inspired' by The Smiths? Arguably more indie bands formed as a result of listening to The Velvet Underground - a 60s band. Source? A famous remark, often attributed to British musician Brian Eno, is that while only a few thousand people bought the first Velvet Underground record upon its release, almost every single one of them was inspired to start a band.

Fair point, although I wasn't suggesting listening habits should be determined by a musician's importance in popular culture. It is only one measure of the relative significance of the music compared to the vaunted 90s bands like Pearl Jam etc. I would definitely argue that bands such as the Who, Led Zep, Stones etc had a much wider influence and impact - and a more lasting one - than the Smiths, for example, ever had ( outside Manchester ). How many bands formed as a result of these 60s and 70s bands compared to those 'inspired' by The Smiths? Arguably more indie bands formed as a result of listening to The Velvet Underground - a 60s band.